Franken still not on L.A. air

Here it is Monday morning and Air America's old spot at AM 1580 is still being filled by Spanish-language news and talk. The liberal radio network's website offers no clues as to when Al Franken and friends might return to the Los Angeles air. (They are back on in Chicago.) An ad on the site for Sirius, the satellite radio service, even mentions the situation: "Air America Radio can be heard everywhere - even Los Angeles!" True, if you have Sirius (the programs can also be streamed over the Internet). Meanwhile, LAT media critic David Shaw listened to 17 hours of Air America on a single day before the local shut down -- and wishes his liberal ears had been spared.

It may have been the most boring day of my life...As repellent as I find his politics, Limbaugh is an entertainer as well as a polemicist, and after liberal talk-show experiments with such policy wonks as former Govs. Jerry Brown of California and Mario Cuomo of New York all failed, the folks behind Air America promised that they'd learned their lesson. They too would find ideologues who are funny.

Nice try...

I laugh easily, and I didn't get a single laugh from Franken, Garofalo or Rhodes — or from any of the other Air America hosts I listened to. Rhodes is the best of them, but unlike Limbaugh — who has a rich, mellifluous voice — her voice is so grating that I found myself wincing, no matter how vigorously I agreed with what she said. (Even Rhodes says, "I hate my voice.")

Previously: Air America standoff